The analysis yields valuable results on how age affects system, subsystem, and individual component failures. It also determined which subsystems and individual parts factor into the relationship between age and failures. The study investigated the relationship between age and mission-critical failures and how other factors such as use and location affected the failure rate in M1 tanks. The results of this analysis appear in The Effects of Equipment Age on Mission-Critical Failure Rates: A Study of M1 Tanks. RAND Arroyo Center sought to help answer this question by conducting a statistical analysis of the relationship between age and equipment readiness on a key item of equipment, the M1 Abrams tank. In this endeavor, a critical question is how to scale and design recapitalization programs so that they can achieve the desired level of operational readiness. In response, it has embarked on recapitalization programs to rebuild (make like new) and upgrade (replace an old component with a new version, to enhance capability) equipment. The Army has grown increasingly concerned about sustaining an acceptable level of operational readiness in its aging fleets. Thus, large portions of some fleets are already more than ten years old, with little prospect for near-term replacement.

They are expected to remain in use until about 2030, when the Army has fully fielded its next generation of forces. Many of the Army's major weapon systems were procured as part of a major investment cycle that ended in the early 1990s.

Recapitalization programs should reflect how age effects differ by subsystem and by components within subsystems.Some Army tanks may have already reached the age where they must operate at a reduced level of readiness or enter a recapitalization program.A 14-year-old tank has twice as many critical failures as a new one.

Draw a military tank online